Pacific Life Insurance Review – Ratings, Pricing, & Products Offered

Also Known As: PacLife, Pacific Mutual Life, Pacific Life Insurance Company

Pacific Life is a Fortune 500 company that provides life insurance, annuities, and mutual funds to more than half of the 100 largest companies in the United States. Originally founded as Pacific Mutual Life in 1868, the company became officially known as the Pacific Life Insurance Company 1997. Pacific Life currently offers their life insurance products to individuals in every state except the state of New York.

Company History

The Pacific Life Insurance Company was founded by Leland Stanford, a former California Governor, and the founder of Stanford University. Originally located in Sacramento, California, the company relocated to Los Angeles in 1906 following the infamous San Francisco earthquake and a merger with Conservative Life. In 1972, the Pacific Life Insurance Company relocated once more to Newport Beach, California where they are still headquartered today.

Pacific Life persevered through the Great Depression by becoming a mutual, or policyholder owned, company in 1936 after heeding advice from the insurance commissioner Samuel Carpenter. Today after a solid 150-year track record, Pacific Life is one of the largest and most financially-stable life insurance companies in the United States. They manage more than $143 billion dollars in assets and they are listed as number 302 on the FORTUNE 500.

Insurance Products

Pacific Life offers specializes with a handful of financial products and services that include:

The Pacific Life insurance company offers 10, 15, 20, and 30-year level term policies and they sell the most indexed universal life insurance policies or IULs in the United States. While our agency rarely recommends purchasing a life insurance policy that carries an investment risk, we believe PacLife sells an excellent and affordbale level term life insurance policy.

It’s also worth noting that Pacific Life allows their term policyholders to convert their existing coverage into a cash value policy without completing a new medical exam or health screening during the life of their term.

Pacific Life offers a handful of riders of add-on options that can be included with your policy for an additional cost including waiver of premium coverage and long-term care coverage if you were to become disabled for more than 24 months or require living assistance.

Other features that are include a terminal illness rider which allows the insured to access up to 75% if their policy’s death benefit, while they are still alive, if they become terminally ill. This money can be used for any purpose, and it does not need to be prepaid to the insurance company, even if you survive your terminal illness.

Product Pricing

Every company has its own strengths and weaknesses when approving a policy. Pacific Life offers quite a few underwriting leniencies and affordable options including term policies for less than $100,000 of coverage. However, in our experiences, Pacific Life may not be the most affordable option for charter pilots, diabetics, prostate cancer survivors, and daily cigar smokers.

With that being said, there are some situations where Pacific Life definitely outshines the competition. We’ve outlined some of these specific health and lifestyles risks in the next section. If you have a few medical conditions, a dangerous hobby, or a hazardous occupation, give us one of our expert agents will work with you to determine if Pacific Life is the best company for your unique “risk” profile.

Underwriting Niches

The Pacific Life Insurance Company offers some underwriting niches or leniencies where they may be able to offer a much more competitive rate class than their competitors. Some of the health issues, hobbies, and occupations that Pacific Life is extremely lenient with include:

Anxiety

Preferred rates may be available to applicants who have been diagnosed with mild to moderate depression and are taking two or less mediations to manage their symptoms.

Asthma

If your doctor has diagnosed you with mild or moderate asthma and you experience less than two asthma attacks per week, your asthma won’t prevent you from qualifying for a preferred or better rate class with Pacific Life.

Please note: Your asthma must be considered “stable” and self-treated with bronchodilators or inhaled steroids. Recent hospitalizations, COPD, or tobacco use will prevent you from qualifying for a preferred rate class.

Blood Pressure

If your blood pressure is usually under 140/85, it shouldn’t prevent you from qualifying from a preferred best rate with Pacific Life if you’re over the age of 50. Pacific life offers extremely lenient underwriting for blood pressure, and they have varying guidelines that allow more leniency for older applicants.

If you take a blood pressure medication, don’t worry, shouldn’t have an impact on your rate class.

Common Blood Pressure Medications Include:

Amlodipine

Atenolol

Avapro

Benicar

Bystolic

Carvedilol

Clonidine

Cozaar

Diovan

Enalapril

Exforge

Furosemide

Hydrochlorothiazide

Hyzaar

Lasix

Lisinopril

Losartan

Lotrel

Metoprolol

Micardis

Norvasc

Propranolol

Spironolactone

Tekturna

Toprol

Verapamil

Cholesterol

While some well-known companies like State Farm stop offering their top rate class to applicants who have a total cholesterol of 180 or more, with Pacific Life, healthy applicants can have a total cholesterol as high as 300 without being disqualified from their top rate class.

In addition, taking a cholesterol medication will not prevent you from qualifying for Preferred Best rates with Pacific Life. They overlook a preventive cholesterol medication as long you are following your doctor’s advice.

Common Cholesterol Medications Include:

Atorvastatin

Crestor

Fluvastatin

Lescol

Lipitor

Livalo

Lovastatin

Pitavastatin

Pravachol

Pravastatin

Rosuvastatin

Simvastatin

Zocor

Cigar Smokers

Pacific Life will allow you to smoke up to 12 cigars per year, and still qualify for all non-tobacco rate class.

Crohn’s Disease

If you only experience minor symptoms and you have not been prescribed any steroids to treat your for at least 5 years, you may qualify for standard or select rates.

Depression

Preferred rates may be available to applicants who have been diagnosed with mild to moderate depression and are taking two or less mediations to manage their symptoms.

Please note: If you receive Social Security Disability, SSD, or if your condition prevents you from working, you may not qualify for term life insurance.

Military

Unlike most life insurance carriers, Pacific Life offers their life insurance to active military members. Rates are based on the applicant’s assigned duties, not their military service. As an example, a communications specialist or a medic will likely pay lower rates than an explosive ordinance disposal technician.

Piloting

Instrument-rated recreational pilots that fly 26 to 150 hours per year can qualify for preferred rate class with PacLife. Exceptions to this include flight instructors and pilots who are flying experimental aircraft.

Rheumatoid Arthritis

Select or standard rate classes may be available to applicants who show no evidence of autoimmune disease or extra-systemic disease and mild joint disability at worst.

Scuba Divers

If your recreational dives are 100 feet or less, you can still qualify for a preferred or better rate class with Pacific Life. For divers that descent up to 125 feet, you may qualify for standard rates if you are not participating in salvage, cave, or wreck diving.

Seniors

Pacific Life is a great company for most seniors because they offer more lenient blood pressure and weight guidelines to applicants who are over the age of 65.

Sleep Apnea

If you have been diagnosed with moderate or severe and you’ve been using your CPAP nightly for at least two years, you may qualify for preferred rates. Pacific Life will their top classes to applicants who have diagnosed with mild sleep apnea.

Travel

Preferred rate classes may be available to American citizens that travel abroad for up to 4 consecutive weeks. In addition, unlike most insurers, Pacific Life will not consider your past travel, only future planned travel. In other words, if you’ve recently traveled to a location listed on the State Department’s travel warning list, and you haven’t purchased tickets to return, Pacific Life may be your best option.

Ulcerative Colitis

Select or standard rates may be available to applicants with mild symptoms and no steroid use, biologic drug use, or oral chemotherapy for at least 5 years.

Weight

Pacific Life offers some of the most lenient height and weight guidelines in the industry, especially for applicants who are over the age of 65. In some situations, an applicant that is more than 40 pounds overweight could qualify for their best rate class.

Customer Service & Approval Process

Pacific Life has offers some of the best customer service in the industry which has earned them a five-star customer service rating and an excellent reputation. Here’s one of the reviews we found online:

“I had great customer service. They answered all the questions that I had. The customer service overall was outstanding. I did not have any difficulties. The experience was great. The withdrawal was wonderful, had no problems. Very soothing…I have life insurance which is great for the costs. It was easy to set up, no problems or hassles. I’m glad that I chose this…”

In addition to their excellent customer service, Pacific Life offers a relatively fast approval process. In fact, most of our clients are approved within 3-6 weeks of completing their free exam. If you have extensive medical records, or if you see multiple health care professionals, your approval time may be delayed. We’ve also seen approval times delayed by doctor’s offices who have been slow to respond to requests for medical records

If you don’t like being without coverage while your waiting for an approval, you may be able to qualify for up to $1,000,000 of temporary insurance while you’re waiting for an approval. Pacific Life offers a temporary insurance application and agreement or TIAA for up to 90 days to their applicants in average or better health.

To learn more about the temporary coverage Pacific Life offers, ask your agent for the details when you apply. The coverage is completely free, but it requires some additional paperwork.

Unlike most of the 63 companies we represent, Pacific Life’s main offices are on the West Coast in Newport Beach. If you’re in the Pacific Standard Time zone, being able to reach your insurance company after 2pm PST may have its perks. However, if you decide to use Term Life Advice as your agency, you’ll also be able to contact us for your customer service needs so you’re not restricted by hold times or limited customer service hours.

Financial Stability & Ratings

Throughout its 150-year existence, Pacific Life has maintained a perfect history of paying claims, even during the Great Depression. Due to their brand recognition, competitive rates, outstanding customer service, and financial stability, Pacific Life finds itself among the best life insurance providers in the United States.

Life insurance is one of the most heavily regulated industries in the United States and every life insurance company is routinely audited to ensure that they remain financially stable. In addition, every state has an appointed commissioner that oversees each of the life insurance companies operating within their state.

In addition to these safeguards, the industry also relies on third-party assessments to determine the financial strength and stability of each life insurance company. These companies include AM Best, Standard and Poor’s, Moody’s, and Fitch and all four companies rate the outlook of Pacific Life as stable.

As of December 2017, Pacific Life holds $143 billion dollars in company assets and boasts some of the strongest life insurance sales in the United States. These positive financial ratings, diverse portfolio, and company growth provide Pacific Life with a strong and stable outlook for many years to come.

Why We Like Pacific Life

Last year Pacific Life was the 8th largest life insurance company by sales last year in the United States and there is a good reason for this. At Term Life Advice we represent 63 top-rated companies and they often come out on top. Here are a few additional reasons why Pacific Life is often the best choice for coverage:

Term Life Advice is an owner-operated life insurance agency that works directly with dozens of highly-rated life insurance companies including Pacific Life. While Pacific Life may be the best option for some people, shopping the market and comparing rates is always the best starting point.

If you’d like to get an accurate quote based on your age and health, or to determine if Pacific Life is your best option for coverage, give us a call today toll-free at: 855-902-6494. Our services are free, and our agency can quickly compare your options and rates by asking you a few questions about your health and lifestyle.

You can also request a free instant quote online below to instantly compare rates from more than 60 highly-rated life insurance companies in less than a minute.

By clicking "Display Quotes", and submitting an online insurance quote request, you are providing JRC Insurance Group with your prior express and written consent to call you at the cell phone number or residential phone number provided. Final rates are based on eligibility. You can also reach us toll-free at 855-247-9555.

Have Questions?Call us today!

Every life insurance company has “underwriting niches” with certain health and lifestyle risk factors. They also set and charge rates based on their own claims experience history. Some life insurance companies are more lenient with diabetics, or applicants age 60 and above, while other companies offer competitive rates only to those who are young and healthy. For example, some companies will not insure a diabetic above age 65, whereas other insurers will. If you are in excellent health, have some health issues, or considered “high-risk”, we can help. We specialize in finding the most affordable life insurance for anyone between the ages of 30-80, regardless of health. By having access to so many top-rated carriers, we can usually find the best life insurance company for your needs.